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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

So You Think Modern Life Is a New Concept?

by Chautona Havig · 4 Comments

Modernity is Relative

Links in this post may be affiliate links, which provide me with a small commission at no extra expense for you.

Little Town on the PrairieModernity is relative.

“Our grandmothers would turn in their graves, but after all, these are modern times.”

I don’t know if that’s an exact quote or a paraphrase, but Ma Ingalls said that or something awfully close to it in Little Town on the Prairie. What was she talking about? Sewing a long seam down the center of a sheet on a… *gasp!* sewing machine instead of lapping it by hand.

What would those grandmothers think of California King-sized bed sheets with no seam! Shocker! Modernity run rampant!

And we’re just talking about sheets! Twenty years later, people could afford cameras. (Madeline Brown’s camera in Sweet on You was a dollar. Just a dollar! (I feel like Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail. “I only have a dollar. Just a dollar!”

They had telephones, bicycles, motor cars.

Girls didn’t have to sit in general stores sewing shirts for homesteaders. They could be nurses, clerks, and bank tellers.

Those with a more traditional outlook, those who still remained at home without employment, were still free to roam the city without causing gossip.

suffrage
Courtesy of LSE Library

They joined causes and furthered their educational pursuits because it interested them.

And I don’t think feminism can take credit for it.

Some would say I’m in denial, or I have an agenda against girls doing anything but crocheting doilies while they wait for a prince charming to arrive at their doorstep to inform them that he’s there to take care of them forever and all time. Yeah. Because that happens.

Wait. It did. For my daughter. Whatever, it usually doesn’t happen. I’ve got six more daughters who will attest to that little fact.

No, I don’t think feminism can take credit for young women having more opportunities at the turn of the 20th century. The world changed. Household work took less time, and people moved from farms to the city. They had so many new conveniences that their life more resembled ours than that of Laura Ingalls just twenty years earlier (those in the cities, I mean). Without any need for them at home, what else were girls to do?

I imagine that change was rather difficult for some people to handle.

Madeline’s Aunt Louisa is one such person. Like many of us when modernity encroaches on our lives, strips away traditions that we value, and turns her niece into a “meddlesome chit,” she pulls back, grasping onto the familiar.

Madeline’s complaints that her aunt’s notions would have been outdated back in her mother’s day are valid.

modernityDon’t we do that, though? When one thing sends us running, we swing to the opposite extreme—as if on a pendulum. In fact, I wrote a whole blog post on that once. You can read it, HERE.

I guess it’s kind of like why, when a father first sees his little girl dressed in an evening gown, he’s ready to lock her in the basement for the rest of her life.

Hmmm… is that legal? I do have six unmarried daughters…

Instead of saying:

“Um, that cleavage is advertising what you do not have for sale,”

…he just withdraws her from the… market?

Yeah, that analogy got away from me.

But anyway, my point is that sometimes people react to new things in not so great ways. We overreact.

And you know what? 

Just like with Madeline’s Aunt Louisa, that overreaction can and usually does push people away. And c’mon. There’s nothing new under the sun, Louisa.  You deplored the marching and protesting of the suffragettes in Rockland.

Those hussies!

In your day, young ladies reserved “the vote” for what kind of punch to serve at the ladies’ bazaar. All this modern marching and protesting. You’ll be glad when the girls get it out of their systems, right?

Because that sort of unladylike behavior couldn’t possibly happen almost 120 years from now…

I said it before. I’ll say it again.  Modernity is relative.

And Solomon had it right. There’s nothing new under the sun.

And Louisa?

Just be glad you didn’t see the hats some of THIS year’s marchers were wearing.

Even YOU wouldn’t touch one of those suckers!

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Comments

  1. Diane says

    March 22, 2017 at 5:51 pm

    Yup, in architecture Modern was underway before my parents (now in their 80s) got married. Then there was Post-Modern. I’m not sure what comes after that, but it probably already has 😉 And Modern Art has been around for a long time–nearly 100 years. I’ve lost track of how many art movements there’ve been since!

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      March 22, 2017 at 7:27 pm

      And our ideas of modernity will CRACK UP our grandkids and great grandkids. “You actually had to hold your phones? How WEIRD!”

      Reply
  2. Peggy says

    March 21, 2017 at 5:20 am

    It’s been a while since I’ve read any of your books. I once had read almost all of them but it looks like I’ve now got some catching up to do!

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      March 21, 2017 at 5:53 am

      Hi, Peggy! Well, I’ve got quite a few out in the past couple of years. I’d recommend starting with the first Madeline, though. and it’s on sale for .99 right now, so that’s always good!

      Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

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Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 482: A Chat with Lara d'Entremont
byChautona Havig

When Lara d’Entremont began describing her YA portal fantasy, The Painted Fairytale, I knew this would be right up my alley. Listen in and see how art becomes the portal to other worlds!

note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

Portal fantasy is my favorite, so I was crazy excited to learn about this one–especially the art tie-in. I can’t wait to dive in myself.

We chatted about her characters, the world, and the faith that connects them.

The Painted Fairytale by Lara d’Entremont

Seventeen-year-old Wren Devine refuses to share her art with anyone-other than her parents and her sister (who died three years prior). But when her mother submits her artwork to a mentorship program, and she gets accepted, Wren is forced to display her artwork for the eccentric Professor Hayes. Despite her fears, Wren hopes this mentorship will finally make her as worthy as her sister.

But this mentorship is about more than painting.

Wren soon learns that she has a magical ability to turn her paintings into portals to travel not only to other places but also to another world entirely. An eerie children’s book in the professor’s classroom reveals a wicked pirate with a vengeance who has her eye on Stefan Branson, a former student of Professor Hayes.

As all four of these lives intersect, it becomes apparent that everyone has a secret–some more deadly than others. The longer these secrets brew, the more deadly and heavy they become, and possibly lead to never seeing her former, earthly realm again. Wren must not only learn to release the shadow of her beloved sister but step boldly into her own world.

Learn more about Lara on her WEBSITE and follow her on GoodReads.or on Subtack.

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